Tag: East Downtown

Attractions
01/21/11 2:35pm

Behold the Orange Glow: The Dynamo Stadium Blob Is Ready To Go

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East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Stadiums
18 Comments

The big East Downtown orangish blob that will be Dynamo Stadium takes on a more definite shape in these new drawings. That’s a giant steel mesh wrapping the 22,000-seat soccer and football venue. Inside: 34 luxury suites, 1,000 “club” seats, and a stadium club. Separate canopies connected to the exterior mesh hang over both sidelines and a stage on the south end. The Houston Business Journal‘s Allison Wollam reports that orange lights will shine on the stadium at night — but the tower lighting shown in earlier renderings is gone from the latest images. Maybe, as a Dynamo fan on HAIF suggests, the place is just gonna glow from within.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Attractions
08/09/10 12:33pm

Dynamo Stadium Design No Longer Sketchy

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Development Strategies, East Downtown, New Construction, Quicklink
7 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM DESIGN NO LONGER SKETCHY AEG president Tim Leiweke says the design for the new Dynamo Stadium just east of Downtown is “100 percent complete,” and that at least 2 local companies have expressed interest in naming rights, which he’s eager to sell. “We are pricing the construction out now. We have a pretty good handle on the budget. The project will probably come in including the land at $110 million and the fact that we are sitting here talking about a ground-breaking by the end of the year and playing soccer and football for TSU by June of 2012 is amazing. It has come together quickly in the last few months.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Rendering of stadium “conceptual” version: Populous

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Buildings for Sale
07/19/10 10:56am

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Some Unfinished EaDo Business

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East Downtown, Foreclosures, Land for Sale, Price Adjuster, Townhomes
26 Comments

The Swamplot Price Adjuster runs on your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 2312 Sperber Ln., East Downtown
Details: 3 bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,006-sq.-ft. unfinished townhome on a 1,400-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $151,700
History: Current listing up since mid-April

For your consideration: this special property, just over the tracks from EaDo. Submitted by a reader, who comments:

Here’s another one from the Waterhill debacle. There’s a set of 3 townhouses in the corner of this EaDo neighborhood that all appear to be in tear down condition.  HAR description states “Great opportunity for investor or builder to purchase 3 partially completed townhomes, never lived in.” HA!  I beg to differ!  I bet homeless people have been living there off and on for the last 2 years! HAR lists this stand-alone unit for $151,700.  Is it really worth that?

Then . . . well, what is it worth?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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East Downtown
07/16/10 7:08pm

Coming to the Street That Warehouse Live Built: An EaDo Corner Grocery

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Openings and Closings, Retail
4 Comments

A 3,500-sq.-ft. grocery store called Epicurean Express will open next month across the street from live-music showcase Warehouse Live in East Downtown. It’ll fit next to Cork Soakers Wine Bar — which opened earlier this year — in a sixties-vintage strip center at the corner of St. Emanuel and Rusk that used to house a massage parlor. (The PODS pod in the photo above is in front of the market space, at 2018 Rusk.) Both the grocery and the wine bar, the renovation of the strip center, and Lucky’s Pub across the street (next door to Warehouse Live) are the work of corner entrepreneur Anthony Wegmann. Wegmann says he’s still looking for other businesses for the strip center’s remaining 3,500 sq. ft.

Wegmann’s publicist says he’s hoping Epicurean Express will be “more appealing than an access road gas station corner mart.” It’ll sell fresh produce, meats, spices, and cleaning supplies, among other things. A coffee bar will be included when it opens; prepared meals are scheduled to arrive in the fall.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Attractions
05/07/10 1:21pm

Comment of the Day: Ye Olde Dynamo Warehouse Soccer Stadium and Emporium, Nixed

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Comments, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: YE OLDE DYNAMO WAREHOUSE SOCCER STADIUM AND EMPORIUM, NIXED “. . . we met with the architects Wednesday before the game. Received assurances that the design will be modern and eye-catching. Someone suggested the possibility of sticking with the red-brick warehouse motif, and that was summarily dismissed. Not gonna happen.” [Nord, commenting on Dynamo Stadium Is Just a Sketch]

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Attractions
05/06/10 3:24pm

Dynamo Stadium Is Just a Sketch

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East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
13 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM IS JUST A SKETCH A contract to design the new Dynamo Stadium near Hutchins and Walker streets in East Downtown hasn’t been signed yet, but the firm most likely to be chosen for the job is Populous, what the same Kansas City-based architecture firm that designed Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center, and Reliant Stadium is now called after last year’s management buyout: “As of now, there are no blueprints for the project. Any drawings of the stadium are conceptual. ‘The only work that has been done to date is to make sure the stadium property, the six city blocks, are adequate,’ [Dynamo general manager Oliver] Luck said. ‘We didn’t start serious architectural design work. This piece of property is adequate for a 20,000- to 21,000-seat stadium with suites.’ . . . The playing field is expected to be 13 feet below grade, and the lower bowl will be cast in place concrete. The upper bowl will extend above grade. Also, like nearby Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park, the major concourse will be at grade. As Astros fans do when they show up for a home game, Dynamo fans will enter the stadium through the main concourse on ground level. The Dynamo plan to have a roof canopy on the east and west sidelines to protect fans against the sun and rain.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Populous

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Development Regulations
04/08/10 10:30am

The 3 People You Meet in Parking Meetings, Plus a Little Nighttime Entrepreneurship in EaDo

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East Downtown, Nightlife, Quicklink
35 Comments

THE 3 PEOPLE YOU MEET IN PARKING MEETINGS, PLUS A LITTLE NIGHTTIME ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EADO How’d that first public meeting about changing the city’s off-street parking requirements go? Andrew Burleson reports: “The crowd at the meeting was overwhelmingly comprised of three types of people.

  • 1. People who were mad that strangers were parking on the street in front of their homes and then walking to nearby businesses.
  • 2. People who were upset that strangers were parking on the street in front of their homes and then walking to other homes or townhomes on the street.
  • 3. People who were worried that the METRO light-rail on Richmond Ave. was going to create a parking shortage.
While those voices are pretty common, there was another case that I thought was much more interesting. One person voiced concern that in his neighborhood (East Downtown) there were a large number of abandoned warehouses, and that vagrants were coming to these abandoned properties, setting up a hand-painted sign reading “Event Parking – $5″, ushering cars onto lots they don’t own and charging for it. The Police Department refuses to take action to stop this, because it’s happening on private property and the owner is not available to complain or press charges – and has not filed a no-trespass order. The neighborhood cannot get the absentee owner to respond to the problem, or even communicate with them, so they’re not getting any help from the public sector on the issue.” [NeoHouston; previously on Swamplot]

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Attractions
04/07/10 3:43pm

Dynamo Stadium Approvals: 2 Down, 1 To Go

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East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
7 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM APPROVALS: 2 DOWN, 1 TO GO Houston’s city council voted this morning to approve the construction of a new stadium on city-owned land in East Downtown for Houston Dynamo soccer and TSU football games. The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority approved its own role in the deal 2 weeks ago: “The next step in the process will be Tuesday at Harris County Commissioners Court when the deal has to be approved by the county. An agreement between the city and the county would allow each governmental body to use $10 million in property tax money for infrastructure improvements around the stadium. The city already has paid $15 million for the land just east of U.S. 59 downtown on a tract bordered by Texas, Walker, Dowling and Hutchins, and the county has agreed to reimburse half that amount. The deal calls for Dynamo owners to pay an estimated $60 million in stadium construction costs.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

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Attractions
03/23/10 5:11pm

The Dynamo Will Get an East Downtown Soccer Stadium

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East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments
8 Comments

Whatever obstacles were standing in the way of county commissioner El Franco Lee agreeing to Harris County participation in the East Downtown TIRZ — the last piece of the funding puzzle needed for the Houston Dynamo to get its new soccer stadium — appear to have fallen. A number of votes will need to take place before construction can start on the site bounded by Texas, Dowling, Hutchins, and Walker streets just east of Downtown. But media reports indicate the long-stalled project now has sufficient government support to move forward:

The city and county have asked the [Harris County-Houston Sports Authority] to take over lease negotiations with the Dynamo, oversee the construction project and act as property manager upon the stadium’s completion.

If the authority approves the request, City Council is expected to vote on the agreement March 31, followed by a Commissioner’s Court vote expected on April 13. If all is approved as planned, the two parties would turn the land over to the Dynamo for construction on Oct. 1, and the stadium is scheduled for completion April 1, 2012, just in time for the Dynamo season to begin.

Rendering of Dynamo Stadium: Populous

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Attractions
02/26/10 12:00pm

Deep Inside City and County Negotiations for an East Downtown Dynamo Stadium

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Buying and Selling, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments
6 Comments

When last we looked in on the stalled Dynamo Stadium deal for East Downtown, Commissioner El Franco Lee was holding the ball. Today, the HBJ‘s Ford Gunter provides a few clues about the dealmaking behind the scenes:

Lee has steadfastly refused to comment on the issue, and did not respond to interview requests. Speaking in Lee’s place during several recent interviews, [Harris County Community Services Dept. Director David] Turkel has become more guarded, citing the delicate situation and his desire to avoid hampering a possible agreement. In a nutshell, though, Lee wants concessions from the city and the team that he has not yet received.

“Lee is not comfortable putting it on the agenda as is, because it will get voted down,” Turkel says.

For one, the county is looking at who will own the stadium after the lease runs out in about 30 years, and how that would affect a deal in which the city would buy out the county’s share. Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia wants Dynamo family ticket packs priced comparably to movie tickets, which has been more or less agreed upon.

What is Lee really after?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Attractions
02/17/10 10:40am

How To Get More Houston Neighborhoods To Support the Downtown Dynamo Stadium Deal

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Bellaire, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Westpark
5 Comments

HOW TO GET MORE HOUSTON NEIGHBORHOODS TO SUPPORT THE DOWNTOWN DYNAMO STADIUM DEAL It’s easy! Just start talking about an alternative plan for a stadium in some other area of the city. Neighborhood groups will be very supportive. Hey, it worked for Bellaire! “The [Bellaire City] Council voted 6-0 in favor of a resolution calling on the three parties to close a deal on a stadium just east of U.S. 59 near the East End. It also asked the dealmakers not to support a recently emerged proposal to build the stadium along Bellaire’s northern border.” [Houston Politics]

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77003
02/11/10 12:12pm

Boxing Out Dynamo Stadium

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Attractions, Bellaire, Development Restrictions, East Downtown, Proposed Developments, Westpark
7 Comments

Will the Houston Dynamo get to build their stadium in East Downtown — or off Westpark, near the Galleria? So far, the odds are . . . neither. The final go-ahead for building a soccer stadium on the EaDo site will require county commissioners to formally join the new East Downtown TIRZ (boundaries shown outlined above). But they can’t vote on that proposal until commissioner El Franco Lee puts that decision on the agenda. So far he hasn’t done that — and he apparently won’t talk to the press or constituents about his intentions.

Meanwhile, over in Bellaire, city officials are rushing to put in some “stop-gap” zoning changes to the Research and Development District at the northern edge of the city. Most of the site of Midway Companies’ proposed Dynamo Stadium development there lies within Houston city limits, but a small portion on the east side is apparently in Bellaire’s RDD.

What sort of zoning changes are being discussed? Instant News Bellaire‘s Angela Grant explains:

The new Comprehensive Plan envisions the RDD as a mixed-used urban area that includes residential, retail and offices, along with METRO’s future light-rail station. But as the zoning codes are currently written, developers could construct car lots, warehouses or other things that conflict with the “urban village” idea. . . .

The main change would be that developers wishing to construct residential, commercial or mixed-use buildings would need to go before the city in a planned development process to have their ideas approved before moving forward. The city would get a chance to review the plans, consider whether they conformed with the Comprehensive Plan, and reject any developments that did not.

Map showing outline of TIRZ 15: Gensler (PDF)

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Attractions
02/05/10 12:18pm

Dynamo Stadium: What Difference Does the Location Make?

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Bellaire, East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
4 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE LOCATION MAKE? “Talk to Houston Dynamo CEO Oliver Luck, and you get a much different view of the depth of Bellaire-area stadium proposal by the Midway Companies that’s taken on a life of its own in the past week, largely due to the buzz phrase, ‘privately funded.’ ‘We have not been presented a plan by the Midway Companies,’ Luck said. ‘I can’t say whether there’s “no public money” involved. ‘We (the Dynamo) won’t talk to the city or county about this deal — we have pushed that responsibility to Midway. We know what our conditions are, and basically, it’s replicating the financial structure of the downtown deal. That’s sort of a threshhold question. If they can do that, we’ll go ahead. If they can’t, it won’t happen.’ Under the East Downtown (a district now known as EaDo) deal, the Dynamo would pay about $60 million with the city of Houston and Harris County each guaranteeing about $10 million through a special tax reinvestment district.” [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot]

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Attractions
01/26/10 4:22pm

What’s the Dynamo Stadium Westpark Option?

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East Downtown, Financing, Proposed Developments
19 Comments

Houston Dynamo fan and attorney Eric Nordstrom — who’s also a supporter of a new East Downtown stadium for the soccer team — writes in with a question:

I appeared at Commissioners’ Court this morning on behalf of the Dynamo Supporters’ Alliance to speak in support of county participation in TIRZ 15, which is the last hurdle to clear before the Houston Dynamo can begin construction of their stadium at the proposed downtown location. As you know, this deal has been held up for quite some time as it works its way through the political process. The Dynamo Supporters’ Alliance is dedicated to keeping this issue on the front-burner with our elected officials, especially now that the smoke has cleared from the municipal elections. It is important to us to get the message out about this project for it truly represents a remarkable commitment by the team to expend $60,000,000 of its own capital . . . Opponents often ask why, if the Dynamo want a stadium, don’t they pay for it themselves. The Supporters’ Alliance is dedicated to communicating the message that that is precisely what the Club is trying to do. If the City and County will fix the roads, we’ll build the house.

However, after my three minutes were up, Commissioner Radack asked if I was aware of a project currently under development by Midway Companies to construct a multi-use facility in Precinct 3 with 100% private financing, “a mile from the Galleria” near Westpark. To be honest, I was not aware of such a project, and though our first choice is the downtown location, I am intrigued by the location Commissioner Radack suggests. I’m wondering if any of your readers out there can fill in the gaps.

Rendering of proposed new Dynamo Stadium at Texas and Dowling, East Downtown: ICON Venue Group

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East Downtown
05/18/09 5:07pm

Getting Around the East Downtown Soccer Blockstopper

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Streets, Traffic, Transportation
3 Comments

Worried the Dynamo soccer stadium planned for the superblock between Texas, Dowling, Hutchins, and Walker is gonna block traffic between Downtown and the East End? Citizen rail designer Christof Spieler solves the tangle:

There are two parts to this idea. The first is to make Texas alongside the stadium a two-way street. Instead of two eastbound traffic lanes and two light rail tracks, Texas gets two eastbound traffic lanes, two westbound traffic lanes, and two light rail tracks. That all fits in the existing right of way. The second part is to use the “squiggle” in the light rail tracks for traffic lanes as well. This does two things: it gives the westbound traffic on Texas a way to go, and it cleans up those messy intersections.

So now, to get from the East End to Downtown, you simply follow Harrisburg, which flows right into Texas, and then you make a left turn onto Capitol. And you will not hit an awkward intersection or have to cross the rail line to do it.

Map: Christof Spieler

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